A text by Carles Santos about his last opera (2000)

Ricardo and Elena is the title of this work.

Someone could think that this is an autobiographical work because of this title or, at latest, it relates to my family sphere. But is not the case.

This work, as all my previous ones, does not have a proper lot. It has, however, a thread through the music, wich in this occasion is shaken by the evolution of an agressive technique.

And it also clear that the individual-musician uses all his dedication to the music and his conception of it give sense to his own life.
This coexistence gives dynamism somehow to the creative impulse shown through very different expressions, but always linked to unavoidable coordinates. They will be shown in this work (Ricardo i Elena) together with the strictly musical product.

I saw they are unavoidable because they are somehow relentless and they force me to think about a product wich already exists (malgré lui) and wich will need in some moment of its evolution and complementary approach.

A lot of things happened before I reached the present situation. I can’t remember some of them and i even haven’t succeeded in realizing some others. But in spite of this, it exists a final result wich has to be accepted.

Ricardo and Elena are one of those parents, in black and white, who shaped a whole period and who have finally succeded, always working very hard, in being represented in full colour. In this production (Ricardo i Elena) there is a metamorphical excuse used to set in order a group of particular elements that will help to show a work wich coexists with me now, in an absolute normality.

One of the goals of this work (Ricardo i Elena) is to prove myself that all that happened is the best that could possibly happen.
It is not a justification; it is the balanced result of a whole series of manifestations. When they are seen from the distance, it is confirmed that they could otherwise.

It is a work about myself, done with caution, with energy, with humor, with serenity and after having assumed everything.

Text by Carles Santos